I have been learning to dance. Okay, that’s not completely true. I have been caring less about imagined onlookers opinions of my sometimes spastic moves. My aforementioned moves have found a soundtrack and it is simply stellar. “Caught A Ghost” has quickly established themselves as a who’s who in the world of music. There ability to combine thought provoking lyrics with a beat that make any subject feel like ass shaking is a necessity, separates them from almost everything happening in popular music today. If you like Motown and you like loud funky beats (and if you don’t, please stop now and fix yourself), then you will no doubt be head over heels for their debut album, “Human Nature.” Recently we caught up with Jesse Nolan to discuss long hours with Neil Young and Wayne Coyne, what matters on television and born again virgins.
“Better” in our opinion, is akin to a modern day “What’s Going On.” It’s open and honest call for the change necessary to make this world keep spinning is a refreshing statement from a slightly different perspective. “I think I was pretty tired. Honestly, I really love making music. I really love being an artist and all the things that go along with that. The obviously pleasurable and enjoyable parts like being on stage and performing in front of an audience. Also, the hard work I find to be very edifying. I remember reading some article on Neil Young, I believe it was his biography. He said, “A period of intense productivity due to a willfully perverse work ethic.” That really resonated with me. I remember watching Wayne Coyne on “The Flaming Lips” documentary. The whole thing is basically about how hard Wayne Coyne works. Basically he is involved in every part of the process. He is taping down confetti cannons on stage before the show. I thought that was really interesting. I was up til 6am last night and up at 8am. I have to work for forty hours programming our DMX lighting rig for the road. I have no experience with stage lighting, but think it would be cool for us to have our own self automated lighting rig. There is a bit of fanaticism involved for me.
I’m glad you asked about it (“Better”). It’s one of the deep cuts on the record. It is obviously a deeply personal record for me. It was written out of a looking at the state of the world. Honestly, my view of humanity is, it is a beautiful experiment and it is wonderful to watch it go down. I think it is a brief fizzle in the history of time of the universe, and I don’t think it is going to last forever. It is fascinating to look at the bleakness of that idea, but also all the brilliance around you.”
Sometimes when listening to new music, similarities emerge to other songs of which I am familiar. Listening to “Human Nature” takes me to so many childhood places. It’s like a modern day version of a soundtrack to my youth. “I think Bob Dylan calls it “Love and Theft.” Sometimes it is deliberate and sometimes it is not. The vocabulary that I am drawing from, that I am speaking with, is heavily influenced by Stax Records and Motown Records and Muscle Shoals Recording Studios and King’s Records. (On “Louder”) I was very aware of my influences. I grew up listening to 90’s rap and music that had a lot of bass, and actually deliberately deployed samples. I like for it to feel cut up and smashed together a bit. The coolest thing about making music in the modern era is that, yes, recording with the greatest musicians in town and getting Aretha Franklin singing on the track, that would have been a great way to go, but that’s not available to us. What is available is to capture that spirit. (on capturing someone in the right setting) My gospel music teacher in college said we shouldn’t try to sing like Aretha because her voice was too shrill and you would damage your voice eventually. It’s funny, there is something about the spirit there. You don’t know how good someone sounds until the right context brings out the right emotion.”
“Nothing For You Here” feels like it was written fresh out of a break up, just at the point when you can step back and digest what has happened. “I always I reserve the right to say that all of my songs are composites of characters drawn from different people because then you are allowed to be more artistically free if those people are still in your life (laughing). I think it makes for better song writing because you are collecting experiences that color you. David Bowie said he is a collector, that he collects characters and that is why he is able to channel so many different personas. That particular song was about two different friends of mine, just watching their behavior. There is this other song that is not on the record that is going to be a B-side release, that we play a lot in our live set called “Relentless,” that is very similar. There are a few songs that I’ve written, incorporating elements of the same people. Just watching people behaving in a way that is contrary to their own best interest and their own spiritual well being. (Laughing) Sometimes it is fascinating watching the people around you behaving like crazy people. You’re watching people trying to keep a friendship together and still trying to drive the knife in. The are definitely elements of lost love in my own experiences that were in there as well.”
Recently “Sleeping at Night” was featured on the television show “Suits.” It’s up tempo, confidence melds wonderfully with the show’s motif. “I think it worked well. The two placements we have gotten have been activity generating online too. I think, because of the audience, and the way they choose to feature music in that show, really helps. I think they use music to tell a story. People seem to go straight to Youtube. We have received 10,000 plus hits immediately following. I am really thrilled that they chose to feature us. It’s like radio that you get paid for instead of having to pay somebody to to be on the radio. Pitching your songs to radio stations involves having to higher a radio promoter, which can be enormously expensive. It is part of the reason that it is almost exclusively commercial artist that are played on the radio station. It is a good alternative method that allows us to take the money that we make on television and spend it out on the road and that is another way to reach people.”
“Caught A Ghost” had another song recently on television on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Their remake of “Like a Virgin,” though completely different from the original, is even more catchy than the first. “Sometimes it is nostalgia. I did a cover of “Waterfalls” by TLC. We thought it was funny to cover it out on the road. It was Tessa’s (Thompson) idea. Actually the Sam Cooke cover (You Send Me) was also Tessa’s idea. It was one of the first things we did. She was like, I have an idea for a dark, brooding cover, and I knew exactly what to do with it. I re-harmonized it. “Like a Virgin” was requested. “Grey’s Anatomy” asked if we could throw it together. They had one of our songs on last season and wanted a soulful version of it. I didn’t really know what that was going to sound like, but I wanted to do a version that felt honest for how I would want to sing it and put a new spin on it to look at the lyric in a different way. I think you’re so colored by being a Madonna song. Any song she has ever sung, especially in the 80’s is iconic. You can’t separate it from the music video. I didn’t listen to the music as I was going through it, I just looked at the lyric, that way I was able to take liberties with the melody. I am really glad people like it. I got into it, almost as an exercise. I didn’t know I would want to make a video and put it out.”
“Caught a Ghost” will be performing with “Wild Belle” at The Mercy Lounge on May 8, 2014. Tickets are available at https://www.caughtaghost.com/, as well as all things “Caught a Ghost.”
